Carlyle, Warburg, Advent vie for ICICI Lombard stake:

Global private equity (PE) firms including The Carlyle Group, Warburg Pincus Llc and Advent International have evinced interest in acquiring the 35% stake in ICICI Lombard General Insurance Ltd held by Canadian financial institution Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd, said two people aware of the development. The proposed deal will value the joint venture at $3 billion (around Rs20,000 crore), the two added, asking not to be identified.

ICICI Bank Ltd holds the remaining 65% stake in the joint venture.

ICICI Lombard, India’s largest private-sector general insurer, was set up in 2001 as a 74:26 joint venture between India’s largest private-sector lender ICICI Bank and Prem Watsa-owned Fairfax. Fairfax increased its stake in 2015 after ICICI Bank agreed to sell an additional 9% stake in its general insurance company for about Rs1,550 crore, valuing it at Rs17,225 crore.

ICICI Lombard has an overall market share of 8.82%. Reuters reported on 20 January that Blackstone Group and KKR and Co. were in talks with Fairfax for the stake sale. Mint learns that both have backed out on account of the high valuation of ICICI Lombard.